The American Football Conference (AFC) is one of the two conferences of the National Football League (NFL), the highest professional level of American football in the United States. This conference and its counterpart, the National Football Conference (NFC), currently contain 16 teams each, making up the 32 teams of the NFL. Both conferences were created as part of the 1970 merger with the rival American Football League (AFL), with all ten of the former AFL teams and three NFL teams forming the AFC, and the remaining thirteen NFL clubs forming the NFC. A series of league expansions and division realignments have occurred since the merger, thus making the current total of 16 clubs in each conference.

This chart of the 2017 season standings displays an application of the NFL scheduling formula. The Patriots in 2017 (highlighted in green) finished in first place in the AFC East. Thus, in 2018, the Patriots will play two games against each of its division rivals (highlighted in light blue), one game against each team in the AFC South and NFC North (highlighted in yellow), and one game each against the first-place finishers in the AFC North and AFC West (highlighted in orange).

Currently, the thirteen opponents each team faces over the 16-game regular season schedule are set using a pre-determined formula:[1]

Each AFC team plays the other teams in their respective division twice (home and away) during the regular season, in addition to 10 other games assigned to their schedule by the NFL. Two of these games are assigned on the basis of a particular team's final divisional standing from the previous season. The remaining 8 games are split between the roster of two other NFL divisions. This assignment shifts each year and will follow a standard cycle. Using the 2012 regular season schedule as an example, each team in the AFC West plays against every team in the AFC North and NFC South. In this way, non-divisional competition will be mostly among common opponents – the exception being the two games assigned based on the team's prior-season divisional standing.

At the end of each season, the winner of each division, in addition to the two remaining conference teams with the highest regular season records, proceed into the playoffs. These teams consist of the four division winners and the top two wild card teams. The AFC playoffs culminate in the AFC Championship Game with the winner receiving the Lamar Hunt Trophy. The AFC Champion then plays the NFC Champion in the Super Bowl.

Original American Football Conference logo, based on the AFL logo with blue stars

Both the AFC and the NFC were created after the NFL merged with the American Football League (AFL) in 1970.[2] The AFL began play in 1960 with eight teams, and added two more expansion clubs (the Miami Dolphins in 1966 and the Cincinnati Bengals in 1968) before the merger. In order to equalize the number of teams in each conference, three NFL teams that predated the AFL's launch (the Cleveland Browns, Pittsburgh Steelers, and the then-Baltimore Colts) joined the ten former AFL teams to form the AFC. The two AFL divisions AFL East and AFL West were more or less intact, while the Century Division, in which the Browns and the Steelers had played since 1967, was moved from the NFL to become the new AFC Central.

Since the merger, five expansion teams have joined the AFC and two have left, thus making the current total 16. When the Seattle Seahawks and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers joined the league in 1976, they were temporarily placed in the NFC and AFC respectively. This arrangement lasted for one season only before the two teams switched conferences. The Seahawks eventually returned to the NFC as a result of the 2002 realignment. The expansion Jacksonville Jaguars joined the AFC in 1995. There have been five teams that have relocated at least once. In 1984, the Baltimore Coltsrelocated to Indianapolis in 1984. In 1995, the Cleveland Browns had attempted to move to Baltimore; the resulting dispute between Cleveland and the team led to Modell establishing the Baltimore Ravens with the players and personnel from the Browns, while the Browns were placed in suspended operations before they were reinstated by the NFL. The Ravens were treated as an expansion team.

The merged league created a new logo for the AFC that took elements of the old AFL logo, specifically the "A" and the six stars surrounding it. The AFC logo basically remained unchanged from 1970 to 2009. The 2010 NFL season introduced an updated AFC logo, with the most notable revision being the removal of two stars (leaving four representing the four divisions of the AFC), and moving the stars inside the letter, similar to the NFC logo.[3]

1.
American football
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The offense must advance at least ten yards in four downs, or plays, or else they turn over the football to the opposing team, if they succeed, they are given a new set of four downs. Points are primarily scored by advancing the ball into the teams end zone for a touchdown or kicking the ball through the opponents goalposts for a field goal. The team with the most points at the end of a game wins, American football evolved in the United States, originating from the sports of association football and rugby football. The first game of American football was played on November 6,1869, during the latter half of the 1870s, colleges playing association football switched to the Rugby Union code, which allowed carrying the ball. American football as a whole is the most popular sport in the United States, Professional football and college football are the most popular forms of the game, with the other major levels being high school and youth football. As of 2012, nearly 1.1 million high school athletes and 70,000 college athletes play the sport in the United States annually, almost all of them men, in the United States, American football is referred to as football. The term football was established in the rulebook for the 1876 college football season. The terms gridiron or American football are favored in English-speaking countries where other codes of football are popular, such as the United Kingdom, Ireland, New Zealand, American football evolved from the sports of association football and rugby football. What is considered to be the first American football game was played on November 6,1869 between Rutgers and Princeton, two college teams, the game was played between two teams of 25 players each and used a round ball that could not be picked up or carried. It could, however, be kicked or batted with the feet, hands, head or sides, Rutgers won the game 6 goals to 4. Collegiate play continued for years in which matches were played using the rules of the host school. Representatives of Yale, Columbia, Princeton and Rutgers met on October 19,1873 to create a set of rules for all schools to adhere to. Teams were set at 20 players each, and fields of 400 by 250 feet were specified, Harvard abstained from the conference, as they favored a rugby-style game that allowed running with the ball. An 1875 Harvard-Yale game played under rugby-style rules was observed by two impressed Princeton athletes and these players introduced the sport to Princeton, a feat the Professional Football Researchers Association compared to selling refrigerators to Eskimos. Princeton, Harvard, Yale and Columbia then agreed to play using a form of rugby union rules with a modified scoring system. These schools formed the Intercollegiate Football Association, although Yale did not join until 1879, the introduction of the snap resulted in unexpected consequences. Prior to the snap, the strategy had been to punt if a scrum resulted in bad field position, however, a group of Princeton players realized that, as the snap was uncontested, they now could hold the ball indefinitely to prevent their opponent from scoring. In 1881, both teams in a game between Yale-Princeton used this strategy to maintain their undefeated records, each team held the ball, gaining no ground, for an entire half, resulting in a 0-0 tie

2.
New England Patriots
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The New England Patriots are a professional American football team based in the Greater Boston region. The Patriots compete in the National Football League as a club of the leagues American Football Conference East division. The Patriots are also headquartered at Gillette Stadium, an original member of the American Football League, the Patriots joined the NFL in the 1970 merger of the two leagues. The team changed its name from the original Boston Patriots after relocating to Foxborough in 1971, the Patriots played their home games at Foxboro Stadium from 1971 to 2001, then moved to Gillette Stadium at the start of the 2002 season. The Patriots rivalry with the New York Jets is considered one of the most bitter rivalries in the NFL. The Patriots have appeared in the Super Bowl nine times in franchise history, the Patriots have since become one of the most successful teams in NFL history, winning 14 AFC East titles in 16 seasons since 2001, without a losing season in that period. The team owns the record for most Super Bowls reached and won by a head coach–quarterback tandem, the Patriots are tied with the 49ers and Cowboys for the second most Super Bowl wins with five. The Steelers are in front with six, however, the Patriots are the only team to win five Super Bowls with the same coach and quarterback. On November 16,1959, Boston business executive Billy Sullivan was awarded the eighth, the following winter, locals were allowed to submit ideas for the Boston football teams official name. The most popular choice – and the one that Sullivan selected – was the Boston Patriots, immediately thereafter, artist Phil Bissell of The Boston Globe developed the Pat Patriot logo. The Patriots struggled for most of their years in the AFL, nickerson Field, Harvard Stadium, Fenway Park, and Alumni Stadium all served as home fields during their time in the American Football League. They played in only one AFL championship game, following the 1963 season and they did not appear again in an AFL or NFL post-season game for another 13 years. When the NFL and AFL merged in 1970, the Patriots were placed in the American Football Conference East division, the following year, the Patriots moved to a new stadium in Foxborough, Massachusetts, which would serve as their home for the next 30 years. As a result of the move, they announced they would change their name from the Boston Patriots to the Bay State Patriots, the name was rejected by the NFL and on March 22,1971, the team officially announced they would change its geographic name to New England. During the 1970s, the Patriots had some success, earning a berth to the playoffs in 1976—as a wild card team—and in 1978—as AFC East champions and they lost in the first round both times. In 1985, they returned to the playoffs, and made it all the way to Super Bowl XX, following their Super Bowl loss, they returned to the playoffs in 1986, but lost in the first round. The team would not make the playoffs again for eight more years, during the 1990 season, the Patriots went 1–15. They changed ownership three times in the ensuing 14 years, being purchased from the Sullivan family first by Victor Kiam in 1988, who sold the team to James Orthwein in 1992

3.
New Era Field
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New Era Field, originally Rich Stadium and formerly known as Ralph Wilson Stadium, is a stadium in Orchard Park, New York, a suburb south of Buffalo. Opened in 1973, it is the home of the Buffalo Bills of the National Football League, the stadium was renamed in 1998 for team founder and then-owner Ralph Wilson. The league mandate instituted after the AFL–NFL merger of 1970 dictated a minimum of 50,000 seats, in early 1971, owner Ralph Wilson was exploring options to relocate the team, possibly to Seattle, with other cities such as Memphis and Tampa soon expressing interest as well. The potential loss of the team hastened the stadium project and Rich Stadium opened in 1973, however, plans changed because it was not wanted to be close to Lancaster High School. The stadium was built by Frank Schoenle and his construction company. Stadium bonds were approved by the county legislature in September 1971, by a vote of 16 to 4, the county legislature approved the name in November 1972, despite a matching offer from Wilson to name it Buffalo Bills Stadium. When the Bills organization regularly referred to the stadium without the Rich name, after the original deal expired after a quarter century in 1998, the stadium was renamed in honor of Wilson. Rich Products balked at paying a greatly increased rights fee, which would have brought the price up to par with other NFL stadiums and it was announced on August 13,2016, that local company New Era Cap Company and the Buffalo Bills reached an agreement for naming rights. The Bills and New Era officially announced the new name of New Era Field five days later. The first NFL playoff game at the stadium came in the 1988 season, the Bills won every ensuing playoff game at the stadium until they were defeated in 1996 by the Jacksonville Jaguars on December 28. The stadium is open-air, with a capacity of 71,870, the stadium has never had a natural grass surface, AstroTurf was installed in the stadium upon its opening in 1973. The first renovation occurred in 1984 when the capacity was increased to 80,290 with the addition of 16 executive suites. Eight years later in 1992,24 more executive suites were added, in 1994, major renovations were made to the stadium including the addition of the Red Zone and Goal Line clubs that are enclosed in glass and have 500 seats. These renovations also added 14 executive suites, a massive $9.1 million 41.5 by 31.5 feet Sony JumboTron video scoreboard was a major update in 1994 and was the largest in the U. S. at the time. In 1998, $57 million were spent to refit the stadium with seats and more luxury and club seating as a part of the Bills lease renewal with Erie County. This caused the capacity to be reduced to just under 74,000. In the 2003 offseason, the original turf was replaced with a newer AstroTurf product. Over 1,000 ft of Mitsubishi Diamond Vision LED Ribbon Boards were also installed in the interior during that renovation

4.
Miami Dolphins
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The Miami Dolphins are a professional American football franchise based in the Miami metropolitan area. The Dolphins compete in the National Football League as a club of the leagues American Football Conference East division. The Dolphins play their games at Hard Rock Stadium in the northern suburb of Miami Gardens, Florida. The Dolphins and the Atlanta Falcons are the oldest NFL franchises in the Deep South, however, of the four AFC East teams, they are the only team in the division that was not a charter member of the American Football League. The Dolphins team was founded by attorney-politician Joe Robbie and actor-comedian Danny Thomas and they began play in the AFL in 1966. For the first few years the Dolphins full-time training camp and practice facilities were at Saint Andrews School, in 1970 the Dolphins joined the NFL when the AFL–NFL merger occurred. The team made its first Super Bowl appearance in Super Bowl VI, Miami also appeared in Super Bowl XVII and Super Bowl XIX, losing both games. For most of their history, the Dolphins were coached by Don Shula. Under Shula, the Dolphins posted losing records in two of his 26 seasons as the head coach. During the period spanning 1983 to the end of 1999, quarterback Dan Marino became one of the most prolific passers in NFL history, Marino led the Dolphins to five division titles,10 playoff appearances, and Super Bowl XIX before retiring following the 1999 season. During the summer of 1966, the Dolphins training camp was in St. Pete Beach with practices in August at Boca Ciega High School in Gulfport. The Dolphins had a combined 15–39–2 record in their first four seasons under head coach George Wilson, before Don Shula was hired as head coach. Shula was a Paul Brown disciple who had been lured from the Baltimore Colts after losing Super Bowl III two seasons earlier to the AFLs New York Jets and finishing 8–5–1 the following season. Interestingly, Shula got his first NFL coaching job from then-Detroit Head Coach George Wilson, when Shula replaced Wilson at Miami the Colts charged the Dolphins with tampering in their hiring of Shula, costing the Dolphins their first round draft pick in 1971. Shula introduced himself to the Miami press by saying that he didnt have any magic formulas, Shulas early training camps with the Dolphins, with four workouts a day, would soon be the stuff of sweltering, painful legend. But Shulas hard work paid dividends, as Miami improved to a 10–4 record and their first-ever playoff appearance. The Dolphins were successful in the early 1970s, becoming the first team to advance to the AFC Championship for three consecutive seasons and they captured the AFC championship in 1971 behind quarterback Bob Griese, running backs Larry Csonka and Jim Kiick, and wide receiver Paul Warfield. The AFC Divisional Playoff Game, in which the Dolphins defeated the Kansas City Chiefs, was the longest contest in NFL history, in Super Bowl VI, however, Miami lost to the Dallas Cowboys 24–3

5.
Hard Rock Stadium
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Hard Rock Stadium is a multipurpose football stadium located in Miami Gardens, Florida, a suburb north of Miami. It is the stadium of the Miami Dolphins of the National Football League. The facility also hosts the Orange Bowl, a college football bowl game. It was the home to the Florida Marlins of Major League Baseball from 1993 to 2011. The stadium has hosted five Super Bowls, the 2010 Pro Bowl, two World Series, four BCS National Championship Games, the round of the 2009 World Baseball Classic. The stadium will host Super Bowl LIV in 2020, for their first 21 seasons, the Miami Dolphins played at the Orange Bowl. Joe Robbie, the founder, led the financing campaign to build a new home for the team. He believed it was only a matter of time before a Major League Baseball team came to South Florida, at his request, the stadium was built so only minimal renovations would be necessary to ready it for a baseball team. Most notably, the field was somewhat wider than is normally the case for an NFL stadium. The wide field makes it fairly easy to convert the stadium for soccer. Because of this decision, the first row of seats is 90 ft from the sideline in a football configuration. This resulted in an intimate venue for football compared to other football facilities built around this time. At the time it opened in 1987, the stadium was located in an area within Miami-Dade County. Miami Gardens was incorporated on May 13,2003, the first preseason game for the Dolphins was played on August 16,1987 against the Chicago Bears. The first regular game was scheduled for September 27, a week 3 game against the New York Giants. The first regular season NFL game played there was a 42–0 Dolphins victory over the Kansas City Chiefs on October 11,1987, the game was in the middle of the 1987 NFL strike, and was played with replacement players. The stadium hosted its first Monday Night Football game on December 7 of that year, in addition to the Super Bowl, several other playoff games have been played in the stadium, including the 1992 AFC Championship Game, which the Dolphins lost to the Buffalo Bills, 29–10. The Dolphins are 5–3 in playoff games held here, losing the most recent one in January 2009, the team is unbeaten here against the Minnesota Vikings, San Diego Chargers, Los Angeles/St

6.
Gillette Stadium
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Gillette Stadium is a stadium located in Foxborough, Massachusetts,24 miles southwest of downtown Boston and 20 miles northeast of downtown Providence, Rhode Island. It serves as the stadium and administrative offices for both the NFLs New England Patriots football franchise and MLSs New England Revolution soccer team. In 2012, it became the home stadium for the football program of the University of Massachusetts. Gillette will continue to host higher attended home games, the facility opened in 2002, replacing the old Foxboro Stadium. The seating capacity is 68,756, including 6,000 club seats and 87 luxury suites, the stadium is owned and operated by Kraft Sports Group, a subsidiary of The Kraft Group, the company through which businessman Robert Kraft owns the Patriots and Revolution. The stadium was known as CMGI Field before the naming rights were bought by Gillette after the dot-com bust. Gillette and the Patriots jointly announced in September 2010 that their partnership, additionally, uBid as of 2009 continues to sponsor one of the main entrance gates to the stadium. The Town of Foxborough approved plans for the construction on December 6,1999. The first official event was a New England Revolution soccer game on May 11,2002, the Rolling Stones played at Gillette Stadium on September 5,2002 on the bands Licks Tour. Jeremiah Freed was the first band to play at the WBCN river rave on June 9th,2002 making them the first band to ever play Gillette Stadium. Gillette Stadium is accessible by rail via the Providence/Stoughton and Franklin lines at the Foxboro MBTA station, the Patriots have sold out every home game since moving to the stadium—preseason, regular season, and playoffs. This streak dates back to the 1994 season, while the team was still at Foxboro Stadium, as of September 11,2016 this streak was at 231 straight games. From the 1971 NFL season until the 2001 NFL season, the Patriots played all of their games at Foxboro Stadium. The stadium was funded on an extremely small budget and featured few amenities. Its aluminum benches would freeze over during games with cold weather and it had an unorganized dirt parking lot. Foxboro Stadium did not prove to bring in the profit that was needed to keep an NFL team in New England, as it was one of the smallest stadiums in the NFL, with just over 60,000 seats. The team had fallen into debt after team executive Chuck Sullivan funded the Jackson Victory Tour, Tickets sales failed, however, and the teams debt increased even further – to a final total of US$126 million. After two unsuccessful owners bought the team and stadium, it was clear that a new stadium had to be built for the team to stay in New England

7.
New York Jets
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The New York Jets are a professional American football team located in the New York metropolitan area. The Jets compete in the National Football League as a club of the leagues American Football Conference East division. The team is headquartered in Florham Park, New Jersey, in a unique arrangement for the league, the Jets share MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey with the New York Giants. The franchise is legally and corporately registered as New York Jets, the team was founded in 1959 as the Titans of New York, an original member of the American Football League, later, the franchise joined the NFL in the AFL–NFL merger in 1970. The team began to play in 1960 at the Polo Grounds, under new ownership, the current name was adopted in 1963 and the franchise moved to Shea Stadium in 1964 and then to the Meadowlands Sports Complex in 1984. Since 1968, the Jets have appeared in the playoffs 13 times, however, the Jets have never returned to the Super Bowl, making them one of three NFL teams to win their lone Super Bowl appearance, along with the New Orleans Saints and Tampa Bay Buccaneers. The teams training facility, Atlantic Health Jets Training Center, which opened in 2008, is located in Florham Park, the first organizational meeting of the American Football League took place on August 14,1959. Wismer was granted the franchise later dubbed the Titans of New York as Wismer explained. He secured the Titans home field at the decrepit Polo Grounds, by 1962, the debt continued to mount for Wismer, forcing the AFL to assume the costs of the team until seasons end. A five-man syndicate, headed by Sonny Werblin, saved the team from certain bankruptcy, Werblin renamed the team the New York Jets since the team would play in Shea Stadium near LaGuardia Airport. The new name was intended to reflect the approach of his team. The Jets owners hired Weeb Ewbank as the manager and head coach. The early 1990s saw New York struggling, after firing coach Bruce Coslet, owner Leon Hess hired Pete Carroll who struggled to a 6–10 record and was promptly fired at the end of the season. Thereafter, Rich Kotite was selected to lead the team to victory, Kotite stepped down at the end of his second season forcing the Jets to search for a new head coach. Hess lured then-disgruntled New England Patriots head coach Bill Parcells to New York in 1997, Parcells led the team back to relevance and coached them to the AFC Championship Game in 1998. Hess died in 1999 while the team, plagued by injuries, produced an eight win record, the franchise obtained a new owner in Woody Johnson in 2000. Additionally, through the 2000s the Jets visited the five times. Rex Ryan was hired in January 2009, Ryan led the team to back-to-back AFC Championship appearances during his first two years but the team never made the playoffs again during his tenure

8.
MetLife Stadium
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MetLife Stadium is an American sports stadium located in East Rutherford, New Jersey. It is part of the Meadowlands Sports Complex and serves as the stadium for two National Football League franchises, the New York Jets and the New York Giants. The stadium opened as New Meadowlands Stadium in 2010, in 2011, MetLife, an insurance company based in New York City, acquired the naming rights to the stadium. At a construction cost of approximately $1.6 billion, it is the most expensive ever built and is the second-largest stadium in the NFL in terms of seating capacity. MetLife Stadium is the only NFL stadium shared by two clubs, as Giants Stadium approached 30 years of age, it was becoming one of the older stadiums in the NFL. The Jets, who had been the tenants at the stadium, sought to have their own stadium built in Manhattan proper. Originally intended to be the 85, 000-seat main stadium for New Yorks bid for the 2012 Summer Olympics, however, the West Side Stadium would have required significant public funding, which collapsed in 2005. The Jets then entered into a partnership with the Giants to build a new stadium in which the two teams would be equal partners. This idea originated at the Allianz Arena in Munich, Germany, unlike Giants Stadium, MetLife Stadium can easily be converted from a Giants game to a Jets game or vice versa, within a matter of hours. The total linear length of louvers is exactly 50,000 meters or 163,681 feet, front row 50 yard line seats are 46 feet away from the sideline, which is the shortest distance of all NFL stadiums. To change the field decorations, two 4-person crews take appx,18 hours using forklifts and other machinery to remove the 40 sections of FieldTurf which make up the teams respective endzones. Unlike most NFL stadiums, the NFLs logo is painted at midfield, instead of the logo of one of the teams, also shortening the transition time. The replaceable team logos at midfield were removed in August 2010, unlike a number of other new NFL venues, MetLife Stadium does not have a roof, as proposals to include a roof failed, over a dispute for funding. Thus, indoor events such as the Final Four cannot be held at the facility,20 giant high-definition-ready light emitting diode pylons, located at the north and east entrances, display videos of the team currently in-house. The pylons measure approximately 54 feet high by 20 feet wide, inside, are four 30 feet by 116 feet high definition video displays, and hang from each corner of the upper deck. The new stadium has seating for 82,500 people, including 10,005 club seats and approximately 218 luxury suites, MetLife Stadium includes a total of four locker rooms, one each for the Giants and Jets, as well as 2 for visiting teams. The home teams have locker rooms on opposite ends of the stadium with a locker room adjacent to it. The two teams formed the New Meadowlands Stadium Company, LLC, a 50/50 joint venture, to build and operate the stadium

9.
Baltimore Ravens
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The Baltimore Ravens are a professional American football team based in Baltimore, Maryland. The Ravens compete in the National Football League as a club of the American Football Conference North division. The team plays its games at M&T Bank Stadium and is headquartered in Owings Mills. The Ravens were established in 1996, when Art Modell, who was then the owner of the Cleveland Browns, in return, he was allowed to take his own personnel and team to Baltimore, where such personnel would then form an expansion team. The Ravens organization has been led by general manager Ozzie Newsome since 1996, the team is owned by Steve Bisciotti and valued at $1.5 billion, making the Ravens the 24th-most valuable sports franchise in the world. The name Ravens was inspired by Edgar Allan Poes poem The Raven, chosen in a fan contest that drew 33,288 voters, the allusion honors Poe, who spent the early part of his career in Baltimore and is buried there. As the Baltimore Sun reported at the time, fans also liked the tie-in with the birds in town, the Orioles. After the controversial relocation of the Colts to Indianapolis, several attempts were made to bring an NFL team back to Baltimore. In 1993, ahead of the 1995 league expansion, the city was considered a favorite, behind only St. Louis and this led to public outrage and the Baltimore Sun describing Taglibue as having an Anybody But Baltimore policy. Maryland governor William Donald Schaefer said afterward that Taglibue had led him on, praising Baltimore, by May 1994, Baltimore Orioles owner Peter Angelos had gathered a new group of investors, including author Tom Clancy, to bid on teams whose owners had expressed interest in relocating. Angelos found a partner in Georgia Frontiere, who was open to moving the Los Angeles Rams to Baltimore. Jack Kent Cooke opposed the move, intending to build the Redskins new stadium in Laurel, Maryland and this led to heated arguments between Cooke and Angelos, who accused Cooke of being a carpetbagger. Following this, Angelos made an unsuccessful $200 million bid to bring the Tampa Bay Buccaneers to Baltimore, enticed by Baltimores available funds for a first-class stadium, Modell announced on November 6,1995 his intention to relocate the team from Cleveland to Baltimore the following year. The resulting controversy ended when representatives of Cleveland and the NFL reached a settlement on February 8,1996, tagliabue promised the city of Cleveland that an NFL team would be located in Cleveland, either through relocation or expansion, no later than 1999. Additionally, the agreement stipulated that the Browns name, colors, uniform design, the franchise history includes Browns club records and connections with Pro Football Hall of Fame players. Modells Baltimore team, while retaining all current player contracts, would, for purposes of history, appear as an expansion team. Not all players, staff or front office would make the move to Baltimore, after relocation, Modell hired Ted Marchibroda as the head coach for his new team in Baltimore. Marchibroda was already well known because of his work as coach of the Baltimore Colts during the 1970s

10.
Cincinnati
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Cincinnati is a city in the U. S. state of Ohio that serves as county seat of Hamilton County. Settled in 1788, the city is located on the side of the confluence of the Licking with the Ohio River. With a population of 298,550, Cincinnati is the third-largest city in Ohio and its metropolitan statistical area is the 28th-largest in the United States and the largest centered in Ohio. The city is part of the larger Cincinnati–Middletown–Wilmington combined statistical area. In the 19th century, Cincinnati was an American boomtown in the heart of the country, it rivaled the larger cities in size. Throughout much of the 19th century, it was listed among the top 10 U. S and it was by far the largest city in the west. By the end of the 19th century, with the shift from steamboats to railroads drawing off freight shipping, trade patterns had altered and Cincinnatis growth slowed considerably. Cincinnati is home to two sports teams, the Cincinnati Reds, the oldest franchise in Major League Baseball. The University of Cincinnati, founded in 1819, is one of the 50 largest in the United States, Cincinnati is known for its historic architecture. In the late 1800s, Cincinnati was commonly referred to as Paris of America, due mainly to such ambitious projects as the Music Hall, Cincinnatian Hotel. The original surveyor, John Filson, named it Losantiville, in 1790, Arthur St. Ethnic Germans were among the early settlers, migrating from Pennsylvania and the backcountry of Virginia and Tennessee. General David Ziegler succeeded General St. Clair in command at Fort Washington, after the conclusion of the Northwest Indian Wars and removal of Native Americans to the west, he was elected as the mayor of Cincinnati in 1802. Cincinnati was incorporated as a city in 1819, exporting pork products and hay, it became a center of pork processing in the region. From 1810 to 1830 its population tripled, from 9,642 to 24,831. Completion of the Miami and Erie Canal in 1827 to Middletown, Ohio further stimulated businesses, the city had a labor shortage until large waves of immigration by Irish and Germans in the late 1840s. The city grew rapidly over the two decades, reaching 115,000 persons by 1850. Construction on the Miami and Erie Canal began on July 21,1825, the first section of the canal was opened for business in 1827. In 1827, the canal connected Cincinnati to nearby Middletown, by 1840, during this period of rapid expansion and prominence, residents of Cincinnati began referring to the city as the Queen City

11.
Cleveland Browns
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The Cleveland Browns are a professional American football team based in Cleveland, Ohio. The Browns compete in the National Football League as a club of the American Football Conference North division. The Browns play their games at FirstEnergy Stadium, which opened in 1999, with administrative offices and training facilities in Berea. The Browns official colors are brown, orange and white and they are unique among the 32 member franchises of the NFL in that they do not have a logo on their helmets and are the only team named after a specific person, original coach Paul Brown. The franchise was founded in 1945 by businessman Arthur B, McBride and coach Paul Brown as a charter member of the All-America Football Conference. The Browns dominated the AAFC, compiling a 47–4–3 record in the four active seasons. When the AAFC folded after the 1949 season, the Browns joined the National Football League along with the San Francisco 49ers, from 1965 to 1995, they made the playoffs 14 times, but did not win another championship or appear in the Super Bowl in that period. In 1995, owner Art Modell, who had purchased the Browns in 1961, announced plans to move the team to Baltimore, Maryland. The Browns intellectual property, including name, logos, training facility, and history, were kept in trust. A new team would be established by 1999 either by expansion or relocation, the Browns were announced as an expansion team in 1998 and resumed play in 1999. Since resuming operations in 1999, the Browns have struggled to find success and they have had only two winning seasons, one playoff appearance, and no playoff wins. The franchise has also noted for a lack of stability with quarterbacks. To date, the Browns overall win-loss record since 1999 is 88–200, the Browns origins date to 1944, when taxicab magnate Arthur B. Mickey McBride secured the rights to a Cleveland franchise in the newly formed All-America Football Conference. S, early in 1945, McBride named 36-year-old Ohio State Buckeyes coach Paul Brown as the teams head coach and general manager and gave him a share in its profits. The move surprised and upset Buckeye fans, who had hoped he would resume his successful run at the school after the war, the name of the team was at first left up to Paul Brown, who rejected calls for it to be christened the Browns. The franchise and the Cleveland Plain Dealer then held a naming contest to publicize the team, in June 1945, a committee selected Panthers as the new teams name, named after a failed American Football League franchise in Cleveland which only lasted a single season in 1926. It is unclear whether Panthers was the highest vote-getter, or if it was second-highest behind Browns, however, the owner of the failed AFL Panthers franchise, General C. X. Zimmerman, indicated that he owned the name Cleveland Panthers, at this point, Paul Brown bowed to popular sentiment and agreed to the Browns name

12.
Cleveland
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Cleveland is a city in the U. S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County, the states second most populous county. The city proper has a population of 388,072, making Cleveland the 51st largest city in the United States, Greater Cleveland ranked as the 32nd largest metropolitan area in the United States, with 2,055,612 people in 2016. The city is the center of the Cleveland–Akron–Canton Combined Statistical Area, the city is located on the southern shore of Lake Erie, approximately 60 miles west of the Pennsylvania border. Clevelands economy has diversified sectors that include manufacturing, financial services, healthcare, Cleveland is also home to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Residents of Cleveland are called Clevelanders, Cleveland has many nicknames, the oldest of which in contemporary use being The Forest City. Cleaveland oversaw the plan for what would become the downtown area, centered on Public Square, before returning home. The first settler in Cleaveland was Lorenzo Carter, who built a cabin on the banks of the Cuyahoga River, the Village of Cleaveland was incorporated on December 23,1814. In spite of the swampy lowlands and harsh winters, its waterfront location proved to be an advantage. The area began rapid growth after the 1832 completion of the Ohio, growth continued with added railroad links. Cleveland incorporated as a city in 1836, in 1836, the city, then located only on the eastern banks of the Cuyahoga River, nearly erupted into open warfare with neighboring Ohio City over a bridge connecting the two. Ohio City remained an independent municipality until its annexation by Cleveland in 1854, the citys prime geographic location as a transportation hub on the Great Lakes has played an important role in its development as a commercial center. Cleveland serves as a point for iron ore shipped from Minnesota. In 1870, John D. Rockefeller founded Standard Oil in Cleveland, other manufacturers located in Cleveland produced steam-powered cars, which included White and Gaeth, as well as the electric car company Baker. Because of the significant growth, Cleveland was known as the Sixth City during this period, by 1920, due in large part to the citys economic prosperity, Cleveland became the nations fifth largest city. The city counted Progressive Era politicians such as the populist Mayor Tom L. Johnson among its leaders, many prominent Clevelanders from this era are buried in the historic Lake View Cemetery, including President James A. Garfield, and John D. Rockefeller. In commemoration of the centennial of Clevelands incorporation as a city, conceived as a way to energize a city after the Great Depression, it drew four million visitors in its first season, and seven million by the end of its second and final season in September 1937. The exposition was housed on grounds that are now used by the Great Lakes Science Center, following World War II, the city experienced a prosperous economy. In sports, the Indians won the 1948 World Series, the hockey Barons became champions of the American Hockey League, as a result, along with track and boxing champions produced, Cleveland was dubbed City of Champions in sports at this time

Hard Rock Stadium is a multipurpose football stadium located in Miami Gardens, Florida, a suburb north of Miami. It is …

County officials check out the interior of the stadium, April 24, 1987

The stadium before a Miami Dolphins game, 2007

A Florida Marlins baseball game, 2008

Interior of Hard Rock Stadium in 2009, then named Land Shark Stadium. When the Marlins played there, the field was juggled among the Miami Dolphins, Miami Hurricanes, and Florida Marlins, making it an extremely used turf.

2009 Energy Project Award Winning 525 kilowatt BIPV CoolPly system on the Patriot Place Complex Adjacent to the Gillette Stadium in Foxborough. The Solar Project was built, and is owned and operated by Constellation Energy.

The Cleveland Browns are a professional American football team based in Cleveland, Ohio. The Browns compete in the …

Paul Brown, the first head coach and namesake of the Browns, who won four AAFC and three NFL championships as coach of the Browns, is a Pro Football Hall of Fame member, and is widely regarded as one of football's greatest coaches of all time.

Former Browns FB Jim Brown was a prominent member of the 1964 NFL championship team, the team's all-time leader in rushing yards, and a Pro Football Hall of Fame member. He is currently a special advisor with the Browns.